ACF/The Funding Corporation and Notice of seizure

[trubster]

I bought a car from ACF in April (Just after passing my test) I had it 10 days and it was already unroadworthy, I had numerous repairs that needed repairing so I called their aftersales team (10ppm) and they asked for a quote, took it to nationwide and was told the following faults were on the car

 

1. Air conditioning Gas Empty
   
2. Air conditioning pipes damaged
   
3. Air conditioning Condenser Broken
   
4. CV Joint Damaged (MOT Failure)
   
5. CV/Antiroll Strut SNAPPED! (MOT Failure)
   
6. Back Section Exhaust Excessive Corosion (MOT Failure)
   
7. Middle Section Exhaust Excessive Corrosion (MOT Failure)
   
8. Idle Speed Sensor needs replacing (Causing the engine to over rev)
   

After 1 month I got the above repairs completed, although the engine was still over revving when the clutch is depressed / coasting and also the heatshield was loose and is making a load of noise and finally the steering wheel is not straight / tracking miles out, so I took the car to be tracked at my expense and the car still will not go in a straight line without corrective steering, I asked Consumer Direct if I could do anything and they said as it was a finance agreement rather than a HP agreement, I coult refuse the vehicle under the SoGA/CCA Sec 75 by sending a letter to ACF and TFC.

 

I sent the letter 2 months ago and cancelled my DD as I wasnt paying for a car thet was unroadworthy and have had nothing back since then, now totally out of the blue 4 days ago I got a Notice of seizure (I did not recieve a default notice) and they say they will be collecting the car (Today?!)

 

Can they do this as they have told me they can seize the car and then it will be auctioned and I will have to pay any outstanding amounts (+ costs) It was on a 2 year agreement so I am nowhere near 1/2 or 1/3 of the agreement and am not sure what to do.

 

What should I do if they come to collect the car and where do I go from there?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Kev

[Conniff]

Did you contact the dealer about the faults and ask them to repair them?

 

You shouldn't have cancelled your payments, you could have claimed any payments back after a successfull rejection.

You should start making payments again and do a rejection by the book.

 

You can hide the car away if it hasn't been collected yet and tell them there is a dispute over roadworthiness under the soga.

[trubster]

Did you contact the dealer about the faults and ask them to repair them?

 

Yes, they said they were not prepared to repair them

 

You shouldn't have cancelled your payments, you could have claimed any payments back after a successfull rejection.

You should start making payments again and do a rejection by the book.

 

I am not able to make payments at the moment as I have had to fork out for a car in the meantime

 

You can hide the car away if it hasn't been collected yet and tell them there is a dispute over roadworthiness under the soga.

 

It is on the drive at the moment and I am not able to hide it away anywhere, are they able to take it off my drive?

[Conniff]

It's a shame you didn't know your rights from the outset, you could have dumped the car on the seller and insisted he repair it at his cost. Alls not lost yet though.

 

When they asked for a quote, did they infer that they would be repairing it?

 

I assume that there was 12 months MoT on the car when you picked it up. Click on the link and have a look to see if the car failed and was retested and also what (if any) advice was given at the MoT. There's no charge.

 

MOT Information - Introduction

 

Let us know what it says.

[trubster]

I checked and it only had advisory on tyres... it was MOT'd 1 month before purchase

[Conniff]

Was the test carried out by the sales garage or taken elsewhere?

 

Is there much difference between the MoT mileage and the sales mileage?

 

The CV is a very robust unit and wont have gone in the expected mileage of a car that is for sale. If there is no mention of it in the advisory then it 'probably' didn't show any signs of wear. The drop link 'could' have been damaged by bad roads, but this would show up with a rust free break area, unless you meant the bush and not the actual link.

 

I just noticed that they have a 136 point check on their cars, so how come they missed the cv and drop link and the MoT did as well!

 

The rust on the exhaust wont cause an MoT failure unless the gasses are passing out from a leak, so will forget them for the moment unless you say otherwise.

 

Are you a Mr or a Ms trubster? - it's makes a difference in how much they think they can get away with.

Edited August 26, 2008 by Conniff

[trubster]

I am a Mr... The exhaust was not blowing but it was nearly touching the ground (from point of sale just not noticed) the corossion was on the brackets and joint between the two parts of exhaust.

 

Also the other fault that still exists is the handbrake cable is "nearly" uneffective, the handbrake needs to go to the top to work.

 

There was not much difference between mot mileage and the car was bought at 108'000 miles (W reg 1999/2000 I think)

[trubster]

Just had some gippo in a recovery truck pounding at the door, didnt answer he took a photo of the car and left... It is parked on the drive so do you think I should move it?